KING ASOKA TURNS OVER A NEW LEAFAdapted from the book “Buddhist Tales 1” based on the Buddhist sutras
Publisher: Jen Chen Buddhist Book Publisher.
Author: Shih Ta-Lien.
One hundred years after BuddhaÂ’s Nirvana (liberation from Birth and Death), there appeared a great King in India by the name of Asoka.
Asoka means worriless; therefore he was known as both King Asoka and Worriless King. In his childhood, he was much disliked by his father for his fiery temper. After the old King died, there came distressing fights for the throne among these princes. In the end Prince Asoka succeeded the throne, and only one of his younger brothers, Tisya, survived from this Cain and AbelÂ’s fight.
In his initial years as a king, King Asoka was very arrogant and pitiless. He destroyed temples, banished Sanghas (Buddhist monastic community), slandered Buddha and treated his rivals cruelly. In addition, he took the evil GirikaÂ’s idea to build a huge prison filled with all sorts of inhumane instruments like the dreadful Avici Hell of the underworld. There were many different hellish rooms within the Inhumane Hell. These rooms were fully equipped with knives, iron-hammers to smash criminalsÂ’ bodies to pieces; iron-hooks to pull out the criminalsÂ’ tongues; iron-chains to circle round criminalsÂ’ necks; molten steel to pour into criminalsÂ’ mouths; burning flames and boiling oil to burn criminals to ashes; pits of urine and manure to drown criminals; iron-swords and the iron-forks to pierce through the criminalsÂ’ bodies as well as many other kinds of instruments of torture.
Besides, King Asoka ordered wherever imprisoned shall never be released alive. Whenever this man-made hell was mentioned, people trembled with fear and disgust. So they called their king the Horrible Asoka.
King AsokaÂ’s tyranny brought his country into great disorder. One day a couple was killed by the bandits. Fortunately, the coupleÂ’s child, Hi, survived but was much frightened and was crying. A Bhikkhu (monk) happened to pass by, and saw this handsome boy wailing with fears. He took pity to his misery, and brought the child to the monastery. The child became a Sramanera and cultivated devotedly.
Time slipped by, the once naïve and weeping child under the guidance of Dharma had turned into a solemn and compassionate Bhikkhu.
One day, on his trip of alms begging, he came by this prison. He noticed that there was not a single creature around the grand building. While he was wondering, two husky fellows rushed out from the prison toward him and yelled at him:
“Bhikkhu, how dare you flout the law? Don’t you know the King’s order that whoever comes within one mile from here shall not leave alive?” Without any excuse, Bhikkhu Hi was dragged into the prison. When he was about to be subjected to torture, he uttered:
“Wait, gentlemen! Like all the Buddhas, I do not face death with fear. However it is a shame that I have not attained enlightenment. Since there is no way out for me, please give me ten days to repent my wrongdoings and achieve enlightenment. After ten days, I will be at your disposal.”
“Bah! You can attain enlightenment? What a joke! Ten days is too long, but we need five days to polish our knife sharper and brighter and to heat up the pans for you.” After these words, they threw Bhikkhu Hi into a deep dungeon and left with a chilling laughter.
As time wore on, Bhikkhu Hi could not concentrate his mind on meditation but fearfully looked at the iron-knives, the iron-forks and the oil pans. It was on the last day when a regular snow and rosy lady with watery eyes was escorted in. She was said to have committed adultery and killed her husband.
The rude guard put a blood-stained cloth into her mouth, and caught her like a sheep and threw her on the iron board. The machine was turned on and a board with sharp nails started descending swiftly. Without any cries, the lady was pierced into pieces with blood shooting and eyes out. Then, the guards let out the hungry dogs to feed on the corpse. Soon this attractive body became a pile of bones only.
Shocked at what he saw, Bhikkhu HiÂ’s deep compassion drove him to meditate on the impurity and impermanence. When he discerned the nature of impurity and impermanence of worldly life, he was freed from worldly binding and became a great Arhat (enlightened saint). Just then the darkness faded away, and came the dawn. It was the morning of the sixth day.
Early in the morning, the warded Girika came and cried out, “Bhikkhu! It’s your turn now.”
Bhikkhu Hi remarked unperturbedly,
“Since the darkness has left,
Following the glory of sunshine;
Perceiving the impermanence,
I have no fear of death.”When he finished, the guards caught him and violently threw him into the pan of boiling oil in full blast.
“Look!” a guard shrieked with his finger pointing at the pan and could not move his eyes from it. Hearing the cries, the cruel Girika came running and found that the boiling oil had become pure water, full of great lotuses on which Bhikkhu Hi was sitting in meditation. From his body, bright, soft light was seen radiating throughout the dim hell.
On hearing it, King Asoka rushed to the scene. Deeply inspired by the inconceivable wonder, he pondered on without saying a word.
Bhikkhu Hi saw it was time to preach to the King Asoka, so he said, “Your Majesty, do you know through what bliss that made you become a king, and can you remember what Buddha predicated to you in the past?”
Surprisingly, King Asoka replied obediently, “Elder, I beg you to teach me.”
Bhikkhu Hi stated, “One hundred years ago, once Buddha and his disciple Ananda were on their way to the town to beg for food, there were some children building palaces and gardens with sands on the roadside. One of them saw the light radiating from Buddha; he offered the sands as if they were precious jewels to the Buddha. Buddha, then, told Ananda, “one hundred years after my Nirvana, this child will be born as a great king by the name of Asoka. For believing in the Dharma, he will build eighty four thousand pagodas to keep my
Sarira.” The child who then made offerings to the Buddha is Your Majesty, and the other children are now Your Majesty’s ministers.”
King Asoka was much pleased at knowing the predication. While he was musing on, he heard Girika yelling at him:
“Your Majesty should die!”
“How come?” King Asoka asked surprisingly.
“Your Majesty ordered that no men should be let out alive and no exception is permitted. Today Your Majesty and your attendants have to die here.” After these words, Girika swayed his knife and spat, arrogantly.
King Asoka said with a smile, “Quite true, even the King can’t change the law at his will. Yet… you seem to have stayed here for a log time, don’t you?” As soon as he had finished these words, his body guards rushed to grab Girika, and threw him into the burning flames. Soon the killer was burnt into ashes. King Asoka commanded to destroy the prison and burned up all the inhumane instruments. From then on the horrible man-made hell disappeared from the world.
After King Asoka returned from the prison, evil gradually melted from his heart, and he wished to learn more of the Dharma. His compassion was provoked when he witnessed more than one hundred thousand of his captivates were slaughtered in the Chia-lin-chia battle. He came to Bhikkhu Hi to repent his evil doings and took refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Sometimes King Asoka would blame himself for the countless sins he committed and sighed that he was not able to sight BuddhaÂ’s solemn demeanor any better than listened to his teachings personally. It was owing to his little good deeds in the past that he was given the glory as a king. So he felt a deep sense of shame, and vowed before BuddhaÂ’s image that he would promote Buddhism for the benefit of sentient beings. Once he even came to pay respect to BuddhaÂ’s relics and muttered:
“Though I can’t personally see the Buddha, I am luckier than the people living in remote areas who have not even heard Buddha’s name. I should obey Buddha’s predication to build the pagodas all over the world as well as to send Bhikkhus abroad to preach the Dharma and lead people to live the Right Livelihood. I’ll be compassionate and generous to people and encourage them to practice the Five Precepts* and the Ten Virtuous Deeds* to build a pure land in the world; and I’ll help them stay away from bad facts: greed, anger, ignorance and suspicion which make up a hell on Earth.” So he visited Rajagrha city, took about four litre of
Sariras that the late King Ajatasatru buried, and built the well known eighty four thousand pagodas to keep them.
With deep remorse and under DharmaÂ’s guidance, King Asoka ruled his country with benevolence that brought the country peace and won him respects.
• Five Precepts: Refrain from killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct and consumption of intoxicants.
• Ten Virtuous Deeds: Refrain from killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct, frivolous and meaningless talk, tale bearing, abusive speech, covetousness, ill-will and perverted views.
Note: you can get the book ‘Buddhist Tales 1’ (English) free of charge and free for distribution (just like any other Jen Chen Books/CDs/VCDs) in Jen Chen dharma centres in Singapore. Please privately message me for more information. The story ‘King Asoka Turns Over A New Leaf’ is one tale out of thirty Buddhist tales in the book ‘Buddhist Tales 1’.